Creatures of the Capitol
by VividlyVisceral
Summary: Cicero Ein always wanted to work with animals. Now, as a newly employed Capitol scientist- he will assist in creating the 'mutts'... but as he works- he becomes increasingly haunted by the creatures he's introduced to... and the girl who can't speak...
1. Jabberjay

**A Vivid Note: **I thought of this idea during class whilst explaining about Tracker Jackers to my boyfriend. I love 'muttations', but they're terrifying to think heavily about.  
So of course, I want to think _very _deeply on them and terrify myself by thinking of the poor souls who create these creatures. Perhaps you can enjoy being mortified as well- but you'll have to wait until the later chapters for that effect.

Kiss-Kiss,  
Vivid.

**Creatures of the Capitol**

'**Jabberjays'**

I've always wanted to work with animals. Even when I was just a boy- running to Grand Park in the early morning to poke at the worms in the dirt- that's all I dreamed about as a kid. I'd be a zoologist, I had thought, or a veterinarian.

It had been a shame when my father decided that he wanted me to take the route of a laboratory assistant instead. I didn't want to of course, but I didn't have the heart to go against his wishes. He was my dad.

-but never did I dream I'd be able to combine my dream along with his.

So here I am, twenty years, my father's death and a lot of qualifications later- donning the white lab assistant coat and swiftly hurrying along the outskirts of the Capitol to my first day at working with the good fellows at the 'Capitol Genetics Research Facility'.  
To say that I'm nervous is an understatement. The sweat beads that dot my brow aren't perspiration- but out of the panic I'm currently feeling.

The Capitol Genetics building isn't exactly easy to get to, because there aren't any direct hovercrafts or even transit systems that link up to it. I suppose it's because the work inside is detrimental to the war effort- and with a rebellion on our doorstep and everything- it'd be hell for its secrets to be unleashed.  
Despite all that- I'm still sweaty, panicked and exhausted- rather than just excited about my first real day on the job. As the heavy-set brick wall that surrounds the facility draws near I allow my frantic jog to slow into an almost leisurely pace more befitting a twenty-five year old scientist.

Immediately I'm overwhelmed by the blinding white sterility of the front office. Although I had been expecting a clean environment- what I've just walked into feels more like a hospital than a place of research.  
It also doesn't help that aside from me and the security guard manning the front window, the entire place feels hauntingly desolate. Being a Capitol citizen, this unnerves me quite a bit- as almost everywhere is bustling by this time of morning.

I embarrass myself when I reach the entrance by fumbling and dropping my identification card in front of the guard- who takes it upon himself to 'compliment' me on my dash down the street. Apparently the security cameras are placed even up the road from here for reasons I can't fathom- and I've been huffing and puffing my way through all of them.

"Couldn't wait to get to work, hmm?" the guard hands back my card and hands me a key card to use from tomorrow on. "It seems all of you are having a blast down there."

"A-Ah, is that so?" I don't know what to say to him. I really do just want to get to work. "That's good, isn't it?"

The guard shrugs and turns away back to the security screens. It takes me a moment to realise that our exchange is over, and- if I don't want to be late- I should really get moving.

The blank white color scheme continues down the halls I walk, and I'm becoming increasingly worried that I'm misreading the little signs that are tacked up in silver that direct me to the 'Alternative Genetics' labs. Every corridor looks the same as the last- and every now and then I stop to look around- just in case there is someone who might be able to help me.

Where am I going? The further I follow the signs, the more lost I seem to become. I was under the impression that the labs would be on a basement level- but none of the arrows point down any of the stairwells I pass. Dread begins to fill my stomach when I finally glance at my watch and realise that I've wasted almost twenty minutes in this maze of hallways.

Around the corner I find a water cooler and take some time to pour myself a drink and allow myself to calm down. The paper cup trembles in my hands, which I just can't seem to steady- and I find myself holding my breath to listen intently for something- a whir of a fan, a person's voice- but nothing.  
These halls are as silent as they are endless. I crush the emptied paper cup in my nervous clench and let it fall behind the water cooler before continuing down the hallway.

I try to think back to my interview- but it's pointless. I wasn't even questioned in the laboratory- I had been escorted to a spare conference room in the left wing of the building. If the security guard is still watching me now- I wonder if he's still chortling at me. I must look stupid- like a mouse in a cardboard maze with no cheese to smell.  
Gritting my teeth- I stop in my tracks and look around for the security camera. My eyes find nothing in the sea of white- but, in my increasing frustration- I make a rude gesture to the ceiling.

"-tell me where to go... where it is...?" I relax my hand, but my brief frustration is easing into helplessness. "I'm late... I'm so late..."

"Turn around and then turn right at the end of this corridor."

The gasp escapes me before I recognise it- and I whirl about to see who had spoken. But the rows of white doors are all firmly closed and no one else stands here with me. But the voice was as clear as day- a female's voice- and- just now- I'm positive I heard footsteps.

Practically running- I jump around the corner and find myself staring down the barrel of another empty corridor. I barely have time to speak before the same soft female voice talks once more.

"Turn left at the end of this corridor, and then take the first set of stairs down."

I want to believe that this is the guard from the front entrance being exceedingly helpful- but this is definitely a woman's voice. Sure enough- I find the stairs and jump them two at a time as I hear the pair of feet clattering up ahead.  
The stairwell gets darker as I descend its spiral- but I can also hear more now. There are voices- footsteps- and... is that... wings?

I'm getting close now- because the noise is becoming almost deafening. The voice I had heard, the female voice- it's bouncing all around me. I can hear almost a million directions at once- telling me to go right, left, up, down- and the footsteps have broken into a run. Every now and then I catch a shadow disappear down the stair floor beneath me.

The curiosity that wells up within me urges me faster- and as I leap the last five steps and fling open the door that was closed seconds before- the noise stops with a sudden, sharp silence- and I find myself staring into the pitch black of a room.

I inhale a deep breath. Then, cautiously- I speak.

"Hello?"

The room fills with light and a roaring laughter meets my ears as my eyes are blinded by a brightly lit laboratory. The white is finally contrasted with the cool steel of the work tables and the complexion of the first scientists I've seen today. Confused, embarrassed and a tad bewildered- I just stand and stare as the largest of the team steps forwards and claps me heartily on the shoulder as I shakily stare up at him.

"Mr. Ein, welcome to Alternative Genetics!" his voice is like a cannon, loud and booming. "-and may I say that you were just introduced to the newest Capitol creation!"

I stammer nonsensically- because I have no idea what to say in this sort of situation- but before I need to, a familiar clatter of footsteps runs up to me as a short black haired woman holds out her arm- and on it- a very plump, brown bird with a peculiar looking beak.

"Mr. Ein-" the man smiles and takes the bird from the woman- who promptly scurries away. "Meet... the Jabberjay."

I'm still coming to terms with all that just happened. I stare blankly at the bird, which stares intently back at me. Finally I lift my head and stutter at the large scientist.

"...what?" I smile, but it's twitchier than it should be. "Wh-What's a Jabberjay?"

The bird's eyes flash with a cool intelligence. The man smiles at me and gives his arm a little shake. The Jabberjay takes flight and- louder than the flutter of its wings cries-

"...what? Wh-What's a Jabberjay? Wh-What's a Jabberjay?"

"...what? Wh-What's a Jabberjay-?"

"-What's a Jabberjay-?"

"Wh-What's a Jabberjay?"

I could almost fall over. All of the laboratory workers seem to have a bird on their arm- and every single one begins taking after the leader and crying out my pathetic question in such a perfect mimic that I feel so impressed that it overshadows the embarrassment.

"...you... you bred this?" I laugh, staring at the man. "That's amazing."

"Mr. Ein- or Cicero if you'll allow me- may I be the first to say that we're looking forward to your contributions to our work effort." I'm surprised by the mention of my first name, but he continues.

"My name is Rent Casca- and from this day forward we'll be working together on the greatest creatures and the most important asset to the Capitol's resistance."

The rest of the day was spent congratulating me on my acceptance into the facility. The only thing in that room that drew away from the smiles and laughter of my new colleagues and the incessant calling of my voice by the Jabberjays- was the small, black haired woman who stood to the side of it all.

Though it was only for a moment, I stole a small glance of her as she stood to one side- and I swear, in that tiny moment where our eyes met- I could see something other than the joy and excitement everyone else was showing me.

It was fear.


	2. Solar Butterfly

**A Vivid Note: **thank you dearly to my first four reviewers, The Browneyed Bookworm, CrazyNerdyFangirl, GhostWrite123 and- my dear Number One Fan of Journey. You made me smile upon opening my inbox on what would have been a fairly average school afternoon.  
I will be using a lot of the 'canon' mutts, but I've already decided on the set number of chapters for this story being ten- so I've had the pleasure of creating my own monstrosities. Believe me when I say this is _not _the last time you will see them in my Hunger Games fan universe.  
Enough of my blather, let's continue- shall we?

Kiss-Kiss,  
Vivid.

**Creatures of the Capitol**

'**Solar Butterflies'**

A week passed fairly quickly in my new environment- and the entire laboratory seemed to warm to me with the same amount of ease. Altogether there are only about seven regular scientists in the 'Alternative Genetics' lab- but that doesn't mean there aren't other people hanging about.

Even though I enjoying working here- a few things worry me, and I just can't seem to block them from my mind, even when I'm trying desperately to listen to the rather vague instructions Casca gives me on a daily basis. I have a terrible feeling that if I don't manage to soon- it's going to start affecting the work.

The first is that Casca has started calling me Einstein- despite the fact my name is Cicero, and my surname is 'Ein', not 'Einstein'. I know it's just gentle workplace hazing- but I always thought that sort of thing belonged in the more lower class jobs- not in a Capitol government research building.  
I know that's no reason to dislike the man- but I can't seem to shake the feelings of dislike that have clouded me since our first meeting with the Jabberjays. He seems to enjoy humiliating me.

The second is that I haven't been allowed in the animal caging area since I began working here- and none of the other scientists are willing to tell me why not exactly. Every now and then I catch a glimpse of some very ordinary looking animals- like rats, frogs and various birds- but they're all going _in _to the caging area. I haven't seen a Capitol creation since the Jabberjay, and I must admit- I'm getting a little impatient.

-but the last reason is the most troublesome- and as I think this, while I sit here at my cold steel desk on the edge of our basement lab- it continues to sits silently in the corner of my peripherals- still bothering me.

The small dark haired woman from the first day hasn't spoken a word to me- unlike all of my other colleagues who are more than obliging to talk. She's here before I am, and leaves after I do- but never says a single word or seems to move from her weedy little wooden chair- perched awkwardly by the door to the caging area.

I've asked around, and everyone seems very reluctant to speak about her. I learned her name- 'Agi'- but that's all they were apparently willing to say. Even now, as I steal the occasional glimpse of her- she sits absolutely still, her eyes on her shoes.  
What does she do here? She isn't a fellow scientist- or even an apprentice. She seems to be some sort of lab hand- only that she's rarely asked to do anything.

Alright, so it shouldn't really bother me. I've known quiet people before- and they're fully entitled to keep to themselves. It's just _something _about this woman is gnawing away at me, and I can't figure out what for the life of me.

"Einstein, you busy?"

It's not hard to recognise Casca's voice without turning around. He's the only scientist here informal enough to not word a question properly.

"No," I turn right around from my desk and benign paperwork- instead politely looking up at the bulky Rent Casca looming down at me. "What is it?"

"Wanted to know if you're interested in meeting our newest 'Capitol Creation'-" He gives me a rather unsubtle wink. "What do you say?"

My heart wells up in excitement in an instant. All week I've been pining to see another animal like the Jabberjay- but I'd just started worrying that I wasn't going to ever see one again. However that fear vanishes in this moment as I practically leap from my swivel chair to stand to Casca's shoulders.

"I-I'd love to," I don't even try to contain the excitement. Casca seems to be enjoying my reaction. "Where is it?"

Casca looks back at me with a smug sort of incredibility.

"Dear Einstein, where do you think?" He jabs a thumb over his shoulder at the door beside the silent 'Agi'. "Caging area- so you're going to have to put on the hazmat suit."

In my delight, I thought that Casca was just joking- but it turns out he was being serious. Through the mysterious door I had been so sternly kept away from was just a smaller room- filled with large baggy suits with what looked like welding masks. What surprises me more is that for some reason, Agi has also shuffled into the room- and shakily begins pulling on a suit of her own as Casca talks animatedly about something I don't quite listen to.

She looks terrified. As I zip up the lower half of the suit our eyes meet for a second- and she looks away with an expression so mortified you'd have thought I was glaring.  
I jerk forwards as Casca slaps one of his large bear like hands onto my shoulders- and force out a feeble laugh as what was probably the end of his anecdote finishes.

"Enough of that though-" Casca wriggles his fingers through his thick suit gloves and gives me a thumbs up as he lifts his wielding mask over his head. "You're in for a real treat Einstein- these babies... heh..."

After a week, I was used to Casca not finishing his sentences. It was a real hassle when he was explaining what I was meant to be doing though.

Even through my thick layered mask- the uproar of noise that meets my ears as Casca opens the door to the caging area is absolute bedlam. I can see that the area is made up of tens, perhaps even twenties of corridors- all built with steel walls containing covered glass windows to their hidden 'exhibits'.

As the three of us walk, led by the ever proud Casca- I only manage to snatch glimpses of the name plates upon the secret creatures locked away. There are names like _Beta Bear _and _Jumperjaw_- but the majority seem to be an assortment of randomised letters- meaning there's no way to tell what wondrous being lies inside.  
Every now and then I hear cries that both excite and terrify me- including what sounds like an Elephant trumpet- as well as the howls of coyotes. I'm sure that in the halls of the caging area- there must be an entire zoo of 'Capitol Creations'.

I notice as I crane my neck every way to catch a glimpse of any of these creatures that Agi, even in her baggy 'hazmat' suit- is very noticeably trembling. Her eyes are fixated on her feet, while her gloves are clenched tightly into weak fists.  
-I'm given no time to dwell on her- Casca very suddenly grabs my arm and pulls me in front of a large viewing window at the end of the corridor and points excitedly at the dim room inside. Eagerly, I peer through the shield of my mask and squint into the darkness.

The room doesn't remain dark long. I can't stop myself in time before I'm blinded by the burst of hot, unnatural light from within. Blinking profusely- I stare wildly- desperate to see whatever it was Casca was so willing to show me.

At first, there's nothing of interest- only there's someone standing inside. It doesn't seem to be a scientist... no, it's not- it's a man. He's shouting something at the ceiling, but this glass is soundproof. Through my blurred peripherals I can see Agi stiffen- but when I turn to face her Casca uses both his hands to point my direction back to the room.

On the ceiling there are... hives... no... what are they? My retinas are still burnt by the sudden display of light- but they look like some kind of insect structure... maybe a cocoon of some sort. They're shivering, very noticeably- and- to my greatest confusion- they're terrifying the poor man inside.

Casca has removed his hands, now that I'm not looking away- and repositions himself between Agi and I. Perhaps I'd ask why if this were another situation- but all I can think of is what's happening inside that room- with those... things, and that man.

My mental question is answered almost immediately. Tiny shimmering gold dust begins to fall from the funny, white structures as they begin to crack and flake. The man stumbles away from the most of them- waving his arms fervently- his mouth forming the words... could it be...?

'_Stop! Stop please-!_'

He's starting to twitch and jerk about as the rain of luminous dust continues. I can feel my body go numb with a sick sort of anticipation as he continues to scream and shout frantically. Why? Why is he panicking like that?

Suddenly the man flings his hands over his eyes and screams silently behind the glass- just as the cocoons all simultaneously burst into great flurrying storms of golden rain.

...and then they emerge.

I can't contain the breathless gasp of awe that escapes me.

Butterflies. Tens, hundreds of shimmering, sparkling- golden butterflies.

Casca points excitedly to the ceiling with his glove- but I don't need his direction. As if I could tear my eyes away from the shimmering beauty of it all. They frolic and dance about the ceiling- as if sneering at me that I don't have their wings.  
They're not like normal butterflies, I realise. They form fully evolved in those cocoons- only to be awoken by strong light. That's why they don't need their wings to dry before they take flight... they just... do.

I could look at them forever.

-but I'm drawn away from the masterpiece as Agi crumples to the laboratory floor, gripping her head and rocking herself gently. I stumble backwards in surprise as Casca forcibly yanks her to her feet and holds her steady- looking at me and smiling awkwardly- blabbering words I can't hear through the mask.

Casca nods quickly to back where we came, and a great wave of disappointment overwhelms me as I realise it's time to go back. I wait a little for Casca to help Agi hobble away from the window before I try to take my final last look at the butterflies- skipping about the ceiling.

But as I look back up to the enclosed ceiling, they're gone.

So I look down.

'_Stop-!_'

-and feel my insides clench in horror.

'_Stop please-!_'

On the ground, thousands of the tiny dead butterflies litter the entire surface of the floor- their golden shimmer fading into a thick grey ash...

...around the body of the man, who lies twisted, blotched and dead in the grave of butterflies- a tortured look of intense pain still etched into his fresh face- coated in the gold dust I had found so beautiful... not realising the dust was- above all- poisonous...

...

I'm not sure how I made it home that night, or how I survived the rest of the day at the office. Casca told me more about the 'beautiful' Solar Butterflies- apparently unaware that I had hung back to watch their aftermath. I vaguely remember nodding and- unbelievable and disgusting as it seems to even me- laughing at his bland anecdotes as I tried to grip what I had witnessed.  
They took Agi home early that day. She was still shaking, cradling her hand to her mouth as they ushered her quickly from the laboratory before I could catch a proper look at her.

As I lie here on my bed, the imagery still invades my mind with growing force. The man screaming, the butterflies dancing- and the rain of poisonous, skin bubbling dust...

...and Agi... collapsing to the floor... screaming silently into her helmet where no one could hear her... crying for the man who had been sacrificed to the butterflies...

I'm terrified. Too terrified to go back to work tomorrow.

...because I'm just realising now...

...how many have died in the caging area... at the hands of 'the Capitol Creations'...?


	3. Trill Drill

**A Vivid Note: **It's been a long time since I updated- a little over a year in fact. Luckily this is only a ten-chapter story, so whenever I update I'm steadily getting closer to the finish. Haha, what a poor story. I'll finish you someday Cicero.

Trust me.

Kiss-Kiss,  
Vivid.

**Creatures of the Capitol**

'**Trill Drills'**

I was given little time to get over my 'Solar Butterfly' scare, mainly because I haven't been around long enough to put in the hours in order to be able to ask for a vacation. Word spread quickly of my discomfort- particularly once Casca realised it had affected me so terribly.

"Sorry Ein'," He had said the day after the incident, using my actual last name for a change. "I didn't realise you weren't aware of the testing protocol on enemies of the Capitol around here- I just sort of assumed-"

"No, it's not your fault." I had lied. It was entirely his fault, but I was too scared to point blame. "I-I guess I'll have to... get used to it..."

Though I shakily went back to work right away, the already elusive Agi remained missing. Once again, I tried asking around- but all I received were little snippets of information. Things like, 'she _was_ under a lot of stress...'- and 'perhaps she's sick again?'- but nothing definitive.  
Although, I have to admit, the word 'again' made me a little suspicious. Agi had been ill like this before? Why, and with what?

Judging how this laboratory works, I'll probably never know.

It's been another week now, with no Agi- and no offers from Casca to view more of the creatures. I can't say if I'm relieved or disappointed about either. I'm focusing harder on the endless stream of patents- but I feel hollow to my gut.  
I sort of want to see more of the creatures, even though seeing them means having to watch them kill traitors of the Capitol. Something inside needs to know what's locked away in that caging area- being prepped for use on the steadily gathering rebel forces.

-but what I want most now is to see Agi again. It's hard to explain- but I think I enjoyed having her silent company in the usually solitary laboratory. It made me feel... safe, knowing she was there- watching and fiddling with her hands. Not so alone, I suppose.

Yes, it's ridiculous- but that's the only way I can describe it.

My work is quickly solved and stacked away correctly- leaving me to sit uselessly at my desk for the remainder of the day. Fellow scientists come and go, but they've all taken to ignoring me since their failed attempts to cheer me up. Only Casca's meddling is still guaranteed- which is what I'm rewarded with at the end of the day when his lumbering presence stands over me.

"Alright Ein," I perk up a little at the proper use of my name. "I'm still sorry for not taking proper care of you last time- so I've decided that I'm going to help you find your feet."

A polite silence follows this. I don't quite know what to say to him. So I nod. And he continues with a tweak of a smile.

"-so, I've decided!" Casca's voice is starting to rise again. "We'll work our way up! You can start out with the less intense creations- just until you're ready to handle the real extremities, yeah?"

A faint reminder of the horror I felt watching the butterflies sweeps through me, but I quickly quash it. After all, I work here. There's no way around these creatures- so what Casca is offering seems like a good idea. It would be just like easing myself into a hot bath; I just had to do it slowly.

-although trying to wipe the mortified face of the dead man, covered in the glittering dust of the Solar Butterflies is still something I still can't achieve, no matter how hard I try.

"Okay..." I can't help but feel a little relaxed by the glimmer that returns to Casca's eyes. "-so what'll be first?"

-And just like that, my workplace experience begins afresh. The ever large Casca excitedly tells me that- starting tomorrow- he will introduce me to one creature each week- until I'm ready to meet them on my own.  
As thankful as I am that he's trying to be accommodating, when he gives me a bundle of papers to go home with- all related to a creature called a 'Trill Drill', which I am to stamp and have patented by tomorrow- his generosity disappears somewhat, and I'm left feeling a little bitter having my afternoon off stolen.

My mood improves greatly by the next day, though the nervousness that my work instils in me remains. When I flash my card at the security guard this morning, he looks at me curiously from behind his morning coffee.

"So, something big happening today?"

I'm surprised he's said anything. We haven't spoken since my first day. "No, why?"

To my greatest annoyance, he shrugs and doesn't say anything- returning to his morning paper. I decide it's not worth my time to be held up by something so trivial, so I head on inside the maze of the 'Capitol Genetics Research Facility' – remembering to take all the lefts and rights so I don't get lost. Other than the horrifying image of the butterflies burned into my mind, this is the hardest part of the job.  
I sort of wonder where all these other hallways lead. I was initially under the impression that this entire building belonged to the 'Alternative Genetics Institute' but since my first day I've realised that only a small portion actually belongs to us.

I can't even guess what other laboratories and institutes share this building with us. Especially because none of the hallways seem to be labelled for the sole purpose of making the whole place agonisingly difficult to navigate.

Casca greets me at the top of the stairwell that leads down into Alternative Genetics. With that cheerful grin of his, he grasps me reassuringly by the arm and we make our way down the stairs.

"Did you finish stamping all the pages? Sorry to lump all that on you last minute." With a guilty but chipper wink, Casca removes his hand from my shoulder.

Nodding sheepishly, I go to pull it out of my bag but decide to wait until we're in the office. "Yeah, I finished it. Although I uh... I don't actually remember reading it... I was a bit preoccupied."

Preoccupied with thoughts of Agi, and whatever these 'Trill Drills' are. From the sounds of them, they don't sound 'less intense' at all. Anything with 'drill' in the name gives off a rather 'intense' vibe.

"Oh that's _fine_!" Casca chortles. "I'm not that strict a boss Einstein, as long as you don't go trying to set loose all of our special creatures into the wild we'll never have a problem."

Judging from the sounds of trumpeting elephants, I don't think I _could _set _all _of the special creatures free. I don't think Hercules could.

The first thing I notice when we get to the office area is that it's devoid of any life. At first I feel the familiar sense of disappointment that Agi isn't sitting shyly in the corner with her eyes hidden by her thin dark hair, but then I realise how strange it is that there is no one else here. There are signs of life since yesterday- shifted pages, changed day calendars- but no one is here. Usually at this time at least someone would be scribbling away at something on their desk.

"...where-?" I begin slowly, setting my bag gently down on the table.

But Rent Casca cuts me off before I can even form the question. "In the caging area. We need a _lot _of help with these little buggers."

Suddenly I do not like the Trill Drills. At all.

We take the familiar trip to the protective suit room, but this time when I reach for a suit Casca laughs and stops me. Instead, he kneels down and opens one of the many lockers I hadn't noticed the last time I was in here and pulls out a heavy-duty set of headphones.

"Don't need the suit for this trip," Casca pushes the pair of headphones into my hands. "The suits are for the poisonous and the, uh... biters. Trill Drills aren't either of those, but you'll need to keep your ears blocked."

As I hold onto the headphones, I realise that I'm about to walk into the same trap I walked into last time. I didn't bother asking what the full body suit was for, and I should have. It might have saved me that whole week of distress if I had known what I was in for.  
Gripping the headphones tightly, running my fingers over the buds that insert into the ear, I look up at Casca.

"...tell me what the... what the Trill Drills do, I don't want... I don't want to _see _what they do."

Expecting him to laugh and taunt me, I rise my shoulders up defensively. But Casca doesn't burst into his booming laughter or even crack the smallest of smiles. Instead, he nods in a surprisingly understanding way.

His thumb and forefinger about an inch apart, Casca holds this gesture up towards my face. "They're about this big. They never get bigger than an inch, although we've been experimenting with growth but... never mind that. If I had to describe them, I'd say they look like these... shiny blue crickets. Beautiful colourful wings though, not that they really use them all that much- they rely on their back legs-"

He continues describing them, knowing that the more details he puts into it, the easier it'll be for me to face them. He goes on about the different colourings and the insane amount of cross-breeding insects that resulted in the 'Trill Drill'. Not that I really pay as close attention as my nodding suggests. I'm just waiting for him to get to point about _why _I need these headphones.

Sure enough, Casca pauses slightly before he touches upon his own headphones. "...we call them Trill Drills for a reason. Nothing to do with physical 'drilling' into skin or anything... it's more to do with the 'Trill' part."

"The 'Trill'?"

"The noise it makes," Suddenly, my boss' familiar smile is back. "It's... it's pretty powerful stuff Einstein. Everyone knows that pretty sound that crickets and cicadas make. Trill Drills make a nice sound of their own only... it's not exactly pretty."

With that, he gives the headphones a gentle waggle, and I feel my breath become short.

"So you wear the headphones. Or the 'Trill' will 'Drill' right into your eardrums and make you permanently deaf." His smile fades a little. "...alright?"

At first I don't know what he's asking me about- when I realise he's probably wondering if I'm still willing to go in and face these Trill bugs after what I've learned. For a moment I think of putting the headphones down and telling him that I'm just not ready yet, not this soon after what happened last time, not without Agi here to make me feel safe.

But instead, with stiff hands, I pull the headphones over my ears and nod.

The smile that stretches across Casca's face is instantaneous.

Casca escorts me through the closed cages of animals towards the exhibit for the Trill Drills, and- even with the headphones firmly implanted in and over my ears- I can feel the ground hum as the door is opened. The second I step inside, prepared for the worst, I feel my spirits lift as I see the smiling faces of my co-workers.

Trill Drills aren't that scary after all. They jump around like grasshoppers, their wings gleaming like stained glass windows under the bright light of the caging area. One of the women from my office giggles and writhes as one scurries across the back of her hand, and a man- I don't know what possesses him to do this- holds one up and rips it clean in half, both sides still wriggling and twitching. I see Casca clap his hands and point in a sort of angry way, not that anyone can hear him, but the grin doesn't leave his face.

His face is filled with pride. These are his creations, brought to life. I can't imagine what that must feel like, after how much time it would take to breed these seemingly insignificant bugs. But from the way the entire room is vibrating- I know that if I were stupid enough to remove my headphones- I really would go deaf.

We stay for what doesn't seem like long, but the watch on my wrist indicates that I spend almost an hour kneeling down and poking at these jumpy little crickets. Casca must have somehow realised that I was one of those many boys who was a bug fanatic. He made the right choice for my first step, exploiting my old love of all things crawly.

So when he kneels in front of me and signals that it's time to leave, the look of disappointment on my face only makes him grin more.

"_Come on._"

Helping me up from my squatted position, Casca signals for the few that have remained with us to get moving. With lots of shared grins and muted laughs, we exit the room and head back toward the office.

As we walk down the corridor, I can feel a strange elated sensation in my chest. My fear has disappeared and there's a very definite buzz of excitement the Trill Drills left in my heart. I even find myself nodding with a Casca-like grin as we pass by several caging area workers, and I'm not even bothered when the one in the middle doesn't return the favour and just clamps his hands tight over his ears.

...but as Casca and I remove our headphones and he begins to start ranting about some of the other creatures he'd love for me to meet- I feel my body seize up as I realise something I missed.

The two factory workers had headphones, but man in the middle did not.

And as I sit at my desk and _try _to focus on the day's work I had forgotten all about, I am plagued with the thoughts that I had conveniently forgotten when I had been squatting with those bugs and enjoying their shiny wings.

Just because I don't see the test subjects, doesn't mean that they don't exist. And just because I'm not there to witness their final moments, doesn't mean _they didn't happen_.

...hunching over my work, I clench my eyes tightly shut.

Are we expected to... to just _ignore _the casualties...? To pretend we aren't sacrificing human beings in there-?

My entire face burns with tears.

I don't think I can do this.


End file.
